10+ Practical tips on how to freeze ready-to-eat food, from lunch to dinner, without wasting time in the kitchen

With life getting more hectic, you realize that you have been leaving work in a hurry for some time and the family ends up, once again, having dinner. nuggets and/or sausage. So why not plan ahead and make the week’s food in a day or two, leaving it semi-ready, frozen for the whole week in the freezer? All this with your touch of affection and seasoning, leaving time to enjoy who you love and having a much healthier diet.

O awesome.club decided to give you tips on how to do this, without wasting time, with planning and practicality. Stay with us and understand the tricks. enjoy it bonus at the end of the post, where we leave practical and quick recipes for you to be inspired.

Use fresh ingredients, preferably those that are in season, as they are cheaper, and organic, as they are healthier. Cook food for a shorter time if you are going to freeze it, as freezing it softens the food. Also use less salt and seasonings in general, as the cold accentuates and enhances the flavor and everything can end up being too salty.

It is important to cook for less time and the food must be cooled quickly so that the cooking process ends. This is what experts call bleaching. For this, it is necessary that the food, after being submerged in boiling water, is placed in ice water, as this action helps to better preserve the flavor and color of the food. After this process, you can separate everything into portions inside its own packaging and pack, properly labeled, in the freezer.

It is important to be concerned about the containers for storing food. If you chose plastic bowls, make sure they are suitable for freezer and microwave. Avoid using glass jars, as anything that is frozen will expand and the container can burst. Some foods can also go in the freezer in plastic bags designed for this purpose.

Remembering that the container must be washable, rigid and with a lid. Prefer transparent packaging because it makes it easier to identify. When placing the food in the containers, leave a space of about 2 centimeters or a finger for when it expands, because of the freezing, and so that the food does not leak or overflow. Always check the preparation date, expiration date and the type of food.

Place foods with a shorter expiration date and those with an expiration date on the front. Remember that this must be noted before refrigerating the food. Use small packs for one serving and large packs for meals for the whole family. Never fill the freezer! Always leave a space for cool air to circulate. Also check the door seal to keep food always well preserved.

You can choose to freeze small portions for each person or a larger portion for meals where the whole family is together. For this, have packages of different sizes or special bags for freezing. Keep in mind the amount so that you don’t miss or go over, according to the age and taste of each one.

Generally, an adult consumes between 150 and 220 grams of meat (red, white or fish) at each meal and children a little less. To advance, you can sauté them, with less seasoning than usual, and freeze. When using, you can let it thaw in the fridge overnight or program “defrost” in the microwave.

When making a stuffed lizard on the weekend, for example, double the amount of inputs, because you will spend almost the same amount of gas to prepare 500 g or 1 kg, and leave an extra part to freeze for the week. . A valuable tip is to prepare a good amount of different sauces (cheese, stroganoff, rosé, etc.) to give a different touch each time you cook the same meat.

A suggestion is to freeze all the vegetables separately and make a mix only when serving. So you can always choose colorful and tasty combinations. The average consumption of a person would be one cup for each one. Remember that you can calculate a little less for children, but the colorful mixture goes a long way in getting them interested in vegetables. You can sauté them or just thaw them and season with salt and oil.

To freeze it needs to be cold, make it in large quantities and divide it into individual portions or for a family meal. Leave a space between the rice and the lid of the container, in this space place a layer of aluminum foil or plastic film, as this prevents them from creating water crystals in the lid, because when the ice comes in direct contact with the grains, it ends up leaving them with a spongy appearance.

To defrost, leave it in the fridge a day before, remove the lid and add a few drops of water. Heat it in the microwave and your rice is ready with the taste of freshly made. To spice it up, you can make variations of it with broccoli, carrots or assorted vegetables that have also been frozen, use your creativity to vary, without wasting too much time on it.

Most people freeze beans, but not everyone knows the perfect technique to make them taste as good as freshly made beans:

Frozen baked beans should be used within a month; Freeze it without seasoning. Prepare a mixture of garlic, onion and oil and reserve in the fridge, thaw the beans and sauté them in this mixture. I doubt anyone will imagine that it wasn’t made at that time; The best way to defrost is in the fridge overnight, but in the microwave it works too. Just be careful to use the “defrost ready food” mode; Calculate the approximate portion for each person in the house and separate according to use, usually, one or two full shells is the ideal portion for an adult.

Noodles are a little more complicated to freeze, as some types of pasta are more delicate than others. In general, you should set it aside when it’s almost done, as heating it up at the time of serving will cook the noodles a little longer. Don’t forget to freeze this food only after it has completely cooled down. Consume within 3 months.

If you want to freeze without sauce, put a good amount of oil or butter on the dough so that it stays loose when thawing, which should take place inside the fridge. If you want to store the pasta in the freezer with sauce, add a good amount of it (prefer more liquid sauces, such as sugo or white), remembering that the pasta and sauce should always be cold. To get tasty, the best thing is to freeze pasta and sauce separately.

Many people prefer soup or broth as dinner after a tiring day at work. But to have a tasty meal, even after being frozen, you have to know how to freeze it correctly:

If the soup has sour cream, it may not be very flavorful once it has been thawed. To avoid problems, add the cream when heating the meal; If you have pasta in the recipe, freeze the pasta separately or make it quickly when eating, so it doesn’t turn into a pasta with a strange consistency; When the soup has vegetables in the recipe, leave them with a cooked consistency, but firm, when it heats up it will cook a little longer and this prevents them from falling apart; The final touch with parsley or eggs is best left to add when heating; Always freeze in individual portions, this saves you more time and there is no waste; Some can go straight to the freezer, without fear of getting weird when heating up: beef or chicken soup, bean soup, soup or vegetable puree. If you are going to make a large amount of soup, but you are only going to eat part of it, remove the portion that will be frozen before finishing, to keep the vegetables firmer. Leave the rest that you will serve to cook normally; Don’t forget to tag everything with the date, name and expiration date. Sauces, broths and soups look very similar after being frozen and can cause confusion.

Choose seasonal fruits as they are tastier and cheaper. Below we list the most common fruits, how to store them in the freezer and how to make them available to make juices, vitamins, shakes, creams or smoothies:

Blackberry: freeze whole or blended, you can add sugar (12 months); Banana: not recommended in natura, but can fry or cook and freeze mashed with sugar or a few drops of lemon (6 months); Coconut: just grate or cut into pieces and freeze (6 months); Apple: remove the skins and seeds, add with sugar or lemon (12 months); Passion fruit: remove the pulp and seeds from the skin and freeze (12 months); Watermelon: Remove the skin and seeds, freeze in natura (12 months); Strawberry: wash, dry and you can freeze it whole, with sugar or smoothie (12 months); Pear: it is not good raw, to freeze it is necessary to cook, before that remove the skins and seeds (12 months); Grapes: wash and dry them, store them whole in an open container, you can use them to chill drinks (12 months).

Pancake: Combine two (2) cups of flour, two (2) cups of milk, one (1) tablespoon of oil, 1 egg, one (1) level tablespoon of yeast and one (1) tablespoon of salt tea. Mix everything in the blender, grease the skillet and place a ladle of the recipe. Once browned on both sides, you can fill it with ground beef or that roasted chicken that was left over from Sunday lunch. Freeze the portions, and to serve later, just defrost and reheat. Rondelli With Pastel Dough: for this recipe you need pastry dough, stuffing (can be any protein, cheese and ham or spinach with ricotta), white sauce (can be ready) and grated cheese to sprinkle. To assemble, just open the dough, spread the stuffing, roll like a rocambole and cut into 2 cm slices. Arrange the slices, add a good amount of white sauce (it will freeze the pasta later) and the grated cheese. When defrosting, just heat and serve. Shepherd’s pie: cook the potato or cassava with salt, mash it and make a puree, with milk and butter until it gives consistency. Put half the dough on the bottom, put a…